How Charlie Decided He Liked Dragons and Stuff
by Binary Platypus
Summary: Charlie Weasley is about to enter his first year of Hogwarts. But unbeknownst to him, and everyone else, Dumbledore has an announcement to make: there are changes coming to Hogwarts, big changes. Charlie through his 7 years at Hogwarts with his new friends, several detentions, a few broken hearts, and a few cracked ribs. Rated M just to be safe.


_**Disclaimer: I do not own The World of Harry Potter or any of the recognizable characters, if I did I wouldn't be spending my time writing fanfiction, now would I? This is my account of Charlie's years at school. Please review if you read, I want to make it** **better.**_

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The sun hadn't risen yet when Charlie woke that morning. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and ran his hand through his messy red mop of hair and thought eagerly about today. Today was going to be the very first day of his very first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He hadn't been tired at all and had fallen asleep after two in the morning but seemed to keep waking up every hour or so after that.

Charlie had been a bit worried because Bill had refused to tell him anything about being sorted or what it was going to be like when he got there.

His brother had only told him one thing: the train was red.

Charlie knew Bill was only doing this to irritate him and to his frustration it was working. He couldn't complain to his parents about it, that equated to sibling suicide. It was exactly the sort of thing that Percy would do, which was mostly why Bill and Charlie picked on him so much; he didn't respect the brother code.

Charlie rubbed his eyes again and decided that even though it was early there was no way he was getting back to sleep now and began to get dressed. His mother would be thrilled, last year when they had taken Bill to the station it had taken Charlie ages to get ready and they had been running late because of it.

Well it wouldn't be Charlie's fault today; he was too excited. Bill would be too excited too and Percy was always ready when told to be.

The twins, Ron, and Ginny would all still be asleep by the time they left; Aunt Muriel would be arriving soon to watch them.

The thought made Charlie grin, none of the kids really liked the crazy old bad and this year he would be able to escape the constant barrage of complaints that seemed to be the only thing that ever left the woman's mouth.

Examining himself in the mirror Charlie had on a pair of Bill's old jeans and a red jumper, a sort of final hope that he would be placed in Gryffindor. Both his parents and Bill had been placed there but Bill had also said that it was never a guarantee that family members were in the same house.

He had a friend in Gryffindor who had a brother in Hufflepuff and Bill been dropping non-too-subtle hints all summer that he thought Charlie would make a good Hufflepuff.

While he would be drowned in disappointment Charlie didn't think Hufflepuff would be too bad, anything was better than Slytherin right?

The ginger was busy checking and rechecking everything that he packed in his school trunk when there came a soft knock on his door. His mother appeared as the door opened **"Oh! Charlie, you're already up and dressed!"** She beamed at him. **"Well breakfast is almost ready, so why don't I help you bring your trunk downstairs and you have something to eat." **

With that she ushered Charlie down the stairs and next thing he knew he found himself pushed into a chair next to a half asleep Bill and a plate filled with food was suddenly in front of him.

Mrs. Weasley had an adoring look on her face as she watched her two sons who would both be off to school in a matter of hours. It was a very proud moment for her, spoiled as Percy gave a small tired whimper from the door way.

The boy had never been very pleasant in the mornings.

Bill rolled his eyes at Charlie as his mother began to fuss over the boy and Charlie couldn't help but think that he knew exactly what Bill was thinking; in a few more hours this would all be behind them.

They soon finished their breakfast and the three of them headed out. They had a nice short walk into the village and then a taxi ride to Kings Cross Station. Charlie had only gotten to ride in a car twice before and he still found it exciting.

His anticipation grew as the station came closer into view. It was ten minutes till eleven as the three of them made it onto the platform. **"Two of my little men off to Hogwarts!"** Their mother had tears in her eyes as she looked at her sons before enveloping them in a ginormous hug.

They struggled against her, said she was embarrassing them, but ultimately she didn't release them until they hugged her back and whispered that they loved her and would miss her too.

She still had tears in her eyes as she looked at them one last time before hurrying them on the train. The scarlet engine gave a warning blast and all of the students rushed to the train's windows waving as they yelled good byes and promises to write.

As the train pulled out of sight of the station Charlie ran off to go find a compartment.

He found the one Bill was in but passed it. Bill was already with his 3rd year friends and Charlie didn't want to be known as _'Bill Weasley's little brother.' _

Most of the other compartments were already full of kids who seemed to already know each other.

Finally he came to a compartment with only two others inside. Charlie swallowed the lump in his throat and slid the door open. **"Would you mind if I sit here?"** Charlie looked nervously between the two. There was a boy sitting on the right side and a girl sitting on the left. Both had dark black hair and rather pale skin, as if they hadn't gotten out much summer. It was the girl who spoke first, looking rather nervous herself yet seemingly confident at the same time. **"Please, join us." **She gestured for him to enter.

Charlie made his way into the compartment and sat down next to the boy. It was silent for a while and none of them spoke or really even looked at each other.

The tension was soon broken by a loud crash that made them all jump.

The compartment door was flung open and shut just as quickly by a girl with brown hair who was sitting on the floor as if she had crawled through the doorway. She looked up at them all, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

**"Tripped"** she said simply before standing up and brushing herself off. She flounced over to the empty seat and plopped down next to the other girl. She looked very excited and Charlie felt a lot more relaxed around her, but perhaps that was because she seemed to dislike silence and began talking right away. **"So, I'm Dora Tonks and I'm really excited to get to Hogwarts are you?"**

She looked at the three of them turning her head so quickly between them that she had the look of a spastic weather vane. Charlie was so busy grinning that he didn't have time to answer before the boy started speaking. **"I'm Eric Bouchard." **

He had a pleasant smile and he seemed as happy as everyone else that the awkward silence was gone. **"I'm excited for Hogwarts too but I guess I'm nervous as well."** At this the other girl cleared her throat and gave him a meaningful look. Eric bowed his head and glanced sideways at the floor.

Ignoring the quizzical look from Dora and Charlie the girl introduced herself. **"I'm Samara Owens."** It was a rather short statement and Charlie looked at Dora who shrugged grimly as if to say 'no idea.'

Realizing he hadn't done so, and not wanting to wreck his first chance at making friends, Charlie introduced himself. **"I'm Charlie Weasley and I'm really excited for Hogwarts, I can't wait for Quidditch to start."** It seemed that was all he needed to say; it got all of them talking quite animatedly about what teams they all supported and who their favorite players were.

The time flew by rather quickly and they were all quite startled when the candy lady came by. Sweets of every kind were purchased and Dora proposed a game where they each had to answer a question about themselves and if they didn't want to answer they had to eat a random Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean.

Charlie was surrounded by laughter as he gagged on a spinach flavor bean after refusing to answer Eric's question of what his most embarrassing moment was. Swallowing it and smirking he turned to Dora. **"What's the most amazing thing you've ever been able to do?"** She grinned wickedly before screwing up her face.

Eric practically chocked on the licorice wand he hand been sucking on when the girl's hair turned fire engine red. **"How did you do that?!"** He looked very excited indeed. Dora explained all about being a Metamorphmagus and how she could change her appearance at will to look like anything she wanted. **"I have trouble changing my eye color though, Oh and look! This color is my favorite!" **

She screwed up her face again and her hair turned bubble gum pink. Samara nodded approvingly. **"Very nice, and very cool."** The boys nodded, none of them had met a Metamorphmagus before and they all agreed that it was one of the coolest things they'd ever seen. Dora looked quite pleased with herself but shrugged it off.

**"Just wait till we start Transfiguration, I hear that in later years we learn how to transform appearances. Mind you it will probably be the only part of any course I'm actually any good at."** Charlie quickly shook his head.** "I'm sure you'll be good at loads of things, I'm sure we all will be!" **

Dora smiled at him but didn't look entirely convinced. Charlie couldn't blame her, he was still trying to convince himself that he wouldn't fail everything.

There were a few moments of silence before anyone spoke again. **"Hey!"** Dora sat up and began rapidly pointing between Samara and Eric. **"So you two aren't siblings? I thought you were when I first sat down, you look so alike!"** It seemed to throw the two off but Samara answered quickly enough.

**"No, we're not siblings, not related at all. We've met a couple of times before though."** Eric looked depressingly out the window and muttered **"Most of us look alike though, we'll be easy to spot." **

This was even more confusing than their introductions.

Charlie furrowed his brow in confusion but Dora seemed to be able to read his mind as she echoed his thoughts out loud. **"What do you mean **_**'most of you look the same.'**_** Why would it matter if you'd be easy to spot?" **

Samara and Eric looked at each other before they both took out a bean and pointedly ate it.

Everyone broke out in laughter and Dora conceded. **"All right, all right, be that way"** but she was smiling.

There was a knock on the door and Bill was standing there with a smile on his face. Charlie introduced everyone and they all said hellos to Bill who returned them before talking to Charlie. **"Just thought I'd come see if you were alright and to tell you that you should put your robes on, we'll be arriving pretty soon."** Bill was already dressed in his Gryffindor robes, looking much older than he did at home.

He left them to it and the boys and girls each took turns standing outside the compartment as the other pair changed. The train slowed down soon after that and as they pulled into Hogsmede station Charlie felt a million butterflies in his stomach and a little bit of panic surged through him. What if he wasn't in Gryffindor? What if none of his new friends were in the same house he was in? What if he ended up all alone and no one ever talked to him? He looked at the other three who looked as if they were just as nervous as he was.

Samara caught his eye and bit her lip. **"Let's make a deal"** she said suddenly, the other three looked at her intently. **"Let's make a deal that whatever happens, that whatever house we get sorted in we'll all still be friends and…and we'll all still hang out together"**she finished awkwardly. Eric, Dora, and Charlie all agreed and relief seemed to fill every face. It looked like Charlie wasn't the only one who had been worried about being friendless.

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_**Hope you liked the first chapter. Like I said, please review, any comments are great as long as they are constructive. I will hopefully be putting up a chapter a week but don't hold me to that, I have a rather busy life.**_


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